


Corpse Brides

by IndecisiveRaven



Category: RWBY
Genre: Corpses, Death, F/F, F/M, Forced Marriage, M/M, Marriage, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-17
Updated: 2018-05-17
Packaged: 2019-05-08 12:39:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14694414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndecisiveRaven/pseuds/IndecisiveRaven
Summary: Yang really needs to work on her vows.A.K.A - The bumbleby Corpse Bride AU which nobody asked for.





	Corpse Brides

**Author's Note:**

> I know what some of you might be thinking. A corpse bride AU? What the hell? How the hell?
> 
> Well my dear readers, Incredible stress allows us to do pretty crazy, stupid things. And this AU has been haunting me for months.
> 
> So while I was debating on saving this for later on when I can actually spend lots of time on it, things have been so phenomenally awful recently I needed to write something fresh. So here we are.
> 
> TRIGGER WARNINGS: There's forced chest compression binding in this chapter and I really don't know how to tag that in the warnings because my phone is trash, but I needed to let you know just incase it caused anyone distress or problems. Yang identifies as female and does not want to have to wear it, but Raven makes her in favour of appearing more masculine.
> 
> If anyone knows how to make custom tags for this, please let me know so I can put it in the warnings. Thank you.

Yang huffed as she tried to slyly readjust the bindings around her chest, tugging the restraining material away from beneath her suit so that her breasts could get some air and she could actually _breathe_.

  
She knew that it was futile before she had even begun - a full seven minutes ago. Yet, she still hoped that the way the horse drawn carriage trembled as it hobbled across the cobbled street stones, it would disguise her movement as sheer counter balance.

  
But of course, the evil glint in her mothers eyes told her that she was caught. Because nothing -especially disobedience, escaped Ravens eager eyes.

  
"Yang." She cautions, frowning in displeasure. Her stern voice almost echoing around the small compartment and overruling the heavy clop of the horses hooves. 

  
Yang immediately stops fiddling with the fastenings, the heavy pressure of the ribbon returning and tugging on her like a leash which Raven controlled. 

  
"You know that I don't like it." Yang growls, not even suprised when her mother looks back at her, disappointed. 

  
Raven shifts away from the small window which she was leaning against and unceremoniously dumps one arm over her leg and braces her chin with the other as she leans down to crowd over Yang.

  
 "It doesn't matter that you don't like it." She says tauntingly, completely uncaring of how un-lady like she was sitting and speaking. "All that matters is that old man Schnee approves." 

  
Yang grunts at the statement and quickly looks away from her mother. Suddenly very interested in the torn red velvet drapes which line the other window.

  
No matter how many days had passed since their last meeting, Yang would always remember her first encounter with Lord Schnee, Commander and patriarch of the towns most prestigious house.

  
She was just a child when her father had allowed her to join him at work inside the huge Manor estate one afternoon. She was only perhaps six or seven years of age, when girls were supposed to be learning from their wet nurse and practising to be good, obedient ladies. 

  
But not Yang. 

  
No, Yang didn't want any of it. She wanted to be just like Taiyang: a blacksmith.    

  
Something which Lord Schnee had unfortunately found out about when he had caught her sat on a seat in the active forge covered in grease, oils and muck, pretending to meld a sword. 

  
Yang gently rubbed the unsavoury pink mark that stained the skin between her right hand and her elbow at the memory. 

  
It was the first time that she'd ever been burned. 

  
"Stop drawing attention to it." Raven warns as she pulls Yangs sleeve down and brushes away any wrinkles in the expensive fabric. "For dusts sake Jacques doesn't need a reminder of your history." 

  
"My history." Yang growls back, snatching her arm away from Raven. Enraged that she was bringing it up now. "Is the only reason that you managed to secure this deal in the first place!" 

  
"Yang!" Raven snaps as she bolts immediately upright. "You know that's not true." 

  
"Don't lie to me, Raven!" Yang challenges back, pushing against her mother. "Everyone knows that this is all just a stupid farce for money and power!" 

  
Raven tilts her chin up, failing to hide the suprise which glistens in her crimson irises. "You have no idea wha-" 

  
"Ma'am" Their coach driver, a plump older man named Port, interrupts from outside.  "We've almost arrived." 

  
Yang smiles at the deliberate break up of her mothers soon to be argument. She had always liked Port, with his fluffy mustache and rounded belly. He was kind, funny and always took her side in a disagreement, much to Ravens clear dismay. 

  
Her mother huffs a little as she straightens her own suit and backs away from Yang. Giving up on her little rant in favour of keeping Port quiet.

It was something which always amazed Yang. Because as Leader of the Branwen household, a house just as old as the Schnees. Raven held substantial power over the servants and townsfolk such as Port - despite not being born and bred in Beacon.

Their family's foreign heritage was somewhat controversial when Raven and her brother, Qrow had first arrived here over a decade ago from a place called Haven.

Beacon wasn't as used to travelers back then as it was now. And more than once, Qrows drunken antics and her own brash gambling had almost got them both exiled before their first year here.

It was a difficult time for them both, and it was only through the generosity and mercy of Yangs late stepmother Summer Rose, that they had been allowed to stay.

But of course, Raven had come very far since then on her own. Her patience and silvered tongue well renowned by the people. The years of experience that followed after her ex-partnership with Summer had helped to allow her to be in a position of authority. And she held some influence in the towns politics as a speaker and informant of current trade routes with local villages.  

Which is actually what led them to the here and now. On their way to seal her latest power move.

At the cost of Yangs own freedom.

"You're losing focus again." Raven drawls, but before Yang can retort the carriage abruptly stops with a jolt. Right outside the Manor gates.

"Mistress Branwen, Lady Yang." The Schnee family servant, a man Yang recognised as Klien, greeted them. "You are right on time. Master Schnee and the rest of the family are all congregated in the dining room, waiting."

Yang shyly waved at him, making him smile while Raven rolled her eyes and tapped on the roof. Urging Port to continue through the now open gates.

The horse whinnied and stumbled for a second before they were pulled forwards again, rounding a patch of withered grass as they reached their final approach.

Schnee Manor.

It was just as glorious or in Yangs opinion - dull, as all of the stories that the villagers and ex-servants told about it were. Two flights with eleven rooms, and three side buildings. No expense spared. Which was a waste, Yang thinks, that they decided to paint the outside a darkened cloud white.

But then again - architecture wasn't really her thing, she was better at climbing or breaking into buildings than surveying them.

She quietly grimaced as she shook her head to dismay the thought. That was when she had a different past.

When she was a different Yang.

"Ladies, if you'd please." Port gently urged as he dismounted from the carriage and opened the door for them.

The shock of the cutting winter wind quickly knocked Yang out of her trance about her past embarrassment and left her confused and blinking as Raven gracefully left the single apartment.

_When was the next time that she would be allowed to leave this place?_

"Yang!" Raven barked as she leaned back down and grabbed Yangs wrist. Clearly noticing that her daughter was distracted. "Come along now. We don't want to keep people waiting!"

Yang grunts as Raven heaves her out of her seat and into the open air. The carriage itself trembling with the force as Yangs feet hit the rough stone with a painful smack. "What the-" She turned to yell until Klien stepped infront of her.

"Ah, Lady Yang!" He greeted again as he quickly but gently moved her away from an agitated Raven. "You look most devine in that suit!"

Yang was swept away as he urged her inside the huge marble doors and into a house that was almost as cold as the weather outside. "Er- Thank you?" She mumbled.

"It was designed and made by the _Adels_." Raven chimed in from behind them, which made Yang scoff as they take a right turn past multiple coat holders and other staff.

Of course Raven couldn't resist rubbing in the proof of her fortune at every opportunity, and with the way that Klien ushered her onwards made Yang feel like her most prized possession.

Though that was probably because she was.

"And here we are. Mistress Branwen, would you kindly follow me." Klien asked as they reached a junction in the house, before turning once more to Yang. "And as for you Lady Yang, please wait here. The ceremony will commence in a moment."

Yangs stomach churns at the words. She obviously knew the basics of what the ceremony would consist of - as every Lady of her caliber was taught so. But to actually be standing there was beyond nerve wracking.

She nodded as her throat felt incapable of words. Her silent acknowledgement seemingly enough for Klien who then led Raven down the corridor. Her mother giving her one last scolding look before they turned away and were out of sight.

"Great." Yang murmurs as she grabbed at her right arm.

Left alone on what was possibly the most important night of her life with nothing but nerves and ghoulish paintings on the wall for company.

 _Just perfect_.

She only manages to awkwardly stand still for a grand total of two minutes before she sighs and starts walking back in the direction that she came in from. Fiddling with her binding as she cautiously wandered around.

She knew of course that she would have all the time in the world to explore the Manor in the upcoming days, but surely it wouldn't hurt to wander around and re-aquante herself now, would it?

Her footsteps echo loudly in the eerily empty corridors as she walks. The eyes of the ghosts of Schnees past and present seemingly judging her from their places on the walls as she continued.

She didn't really know what she was searching for, perhaps a servant or a hidden room until she heard it; The sound of isolation.

The sound of Weiss.

Her face lifts into a smile and she suddenly picks up her pace, turning down two wrong corners in her haste until there- sat in the middle of what was clearly the recreational room, was Weiss Schnee. Sitting proudly with her back turned to Yang, softly playing the piano and singing like a siren washed up on shore.

Yang grinned as she watched her best friend play, the heiress's voice and skill with the ivory unlike any other.

Her smile only faltering when she remembers that she wasn't the sailor that Weiss was trying to call.

"You know, it's rude to stare."

Jumping out of her skin like a thief caught red handed, Yang wheezes slightly as Wiess stops playing the piano and turns to face her. A small but cheeky grin on her face at having startled Yang.

"And you know that it's rude to scare people." Yang chastises as her heart rate slowly returns to normal. "Also, I wasn't staring. I was admiring." She says, stepping closer to sit down on the stoll beside Weiss. Ignoring how the heiress frowns at the obvious flirt which would've made other girls swoon.

"And before you say anything, I really mean it. You look good."

Weiss half-smiles as she inspects Yang. Looking impressed despite everything that was going on. "You don't look so bad yourself. Especially in Adel."

"Wow, how could you tell?" Yang asks, slightly amazed as she awkwardly presses down on one of the pianos keys with her elbow causing a heavy thrum to echo in the room.

Wiess sighs as she moves Yangs arms away from the instrument. "No-one else makes suits quiet like it, though I must say it makes your - your" She stumbles as she gestured towards Yangs chest. "Appear more... Contained."

Understanding what Weiss meant, Yang exhales loudly as she pops open the first button on her shirt. Pulling down the fabric to reveal the tightly wrapped binding to Weiss, who gasped a little as soon as she realised what it was.

"It was my mother's idea." Yang explains as she fiddles to re-do the button. "She wanted me to appease your father as best as I could."

In an instant, raw, pure guilt floods over Weiss's face before she quickly works to control the emotion. Slipping on a mask of fake disinterest before she huffs and points towards her own ribs. "If it's any consolation, I know how that feels. My father insisted I wear this damned corset, two sizes too small mind you."

"Language, Weiss." Yang jokingly chides, not even entertaining the thought of fighting back as Weiss playfully slaps her arm.

"Shut up you brute. I was just trying to sympathise!"

Yang smirks despite the heavy atmosphere, apologising to Weiss until they were left in silence.

And Yang didn't do well in silence.

"I guess it's not going to be long now." She says sadly, wishing that she had a watch so that she could check the time. "Then - then we can get out of here."

She tries to focus on that as her hand somehow finds its way back onto the piano. Randomly pressing notes as she thinks of the limited positives of the future that's to come.

Maybe they'd be free in a year. Ideally it would be less than that, if Winter could get involved. Perhaps if the court gave her the rights to the family land on her birthday..

_If - If.._

"Your sisters here you know?" Weiss whispers like a secret after a moment.

"Wait, what!" Yang all but screams as if she had suddenly been zapped by a thousand volts of electricity.

"Ruby's here!" She gasps as Weiss flinches away from the noise. "Where! Where is she!"

Standing up from the stool herself, Weiss points outside weakly. "She's in the stables, but I must warn you Yang - she was. She was rather upset."

Yang finds herself already heading into the direction that Weiss pointed to, ready to drag Ruby into a back breaking hug until she freezes. Lost by the unshed tears which form in the heiress's eyes.

Clearly Ruby wasn't the only one rather upset.

"Omph." Weiss huffs as she's suddenly lifted off of the ground and is enveloped in a embrace from Yang. And despite how they both knew that she wasn't great with receiving positive physical attention, Weiss allows the contact and even rests her head on Yangs shoulder.

  
"It'll be alright, Weiss. I'll talk to her." Yang assures as she gently sways them back and forth. Wanting to support her friend as much as she possibly could.

Weiss nods into her shoulder blade, hiding her little sniffles before pulling away from the hug and straightening her dress. "I know you will, thank you, Yang."

"Anytime, Princess." Yang jokes as Weiss takes one step than another away from her. Looking forlorn as she goes to leave the room.

"I'll see you soon."

Yang nods as Weiss leaves. And even though she was hurting herself, She could understand why Weiss and especially Ruby were upset.

It must've been difficult hearing that your sister was going to be marrying your fiance after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Wink, wink. Was any of you expecting that? I don't know.
> 
> I hope not.
> 
> Also if some of you are upset about the "freezerburn" moments, nothing romantic is actually going to happen between them. There is a reason this is tagged bumbleby and whiterose after all.


End file.
